yesterdays sunday times ... not totally unexpected ANC reaction ... anyhow me done usual letter sent to all papers .. Hellen Zille personally .. and to all my friends on the globe .. pass on as well .... No MIB knocking at my door yet ...
A. BUCHANAN
89 BALFOUR ST.
WOODSTOCK
7925
TO : Hellen Zille
SUBJECT : ANC Threat to give you a hard time .
DATE : 4/5/2009
Dear Hellen Zille ,
I read with dismay the not totally unexpected response to your victory in taking majority in Western Cape from the ANC rank and file , stating that they would make it difficult for you . A similar reaction to when you took the Mayorship of Cape Town , there was subtle and not so subtle sabotage at every step of your path in trying to pull the administration of the city right after years of ANC misrule.
Their behaviour is akin to spiteful schoolground bullies that suddenly find themselves on the receiving side . In essence they cannot accept that the DA won by fair voting process .
The stirrers within the ANC have already by my opinion started the trouble in Site C in an attempt to make Cape Town and the rest of the Western Cape ungovernable, conveniently forgetting that it was indeed them that failed in service delivery in the first instance , sadly so your inheritance is a shambles that will take time to put right .
My strongest suggestion is that you on the basis of the statements in the media immediately get a court interdict against the ANC and their leadership to cease their attempts to disrupt your democratic and constitutional right to govern the Western Cape without hindrance or interference ,and to be able to bring into reality delivery of service that the ANC could not manage to do in their years of poor governance .
Fact is by the very words they have used and if successful in their endeavours to sabotage your efforts they will only causing more hurt to the disadvantaged citizens of the Western Cape.
I would suggest that the act of deliberate sabotage amounts to an illegal action with consequences .
For the legal costs all that is required for a group of decent minded industry leaders to start a " support Hellen " fund that I and I am sure many decent minded citizens would be glad to contribute to , that in stark contrast to Mr Zuma and many other ANC members that seem to have the taxpayer pay their legal bills , even in the case of criminal action against them .
In closing I say to the ANC that I could never in my lifetime support a party that seems to have had so many of its leaders and members caught with their hands in the till , most of you seem have no conscience or sense of shame for your misdeeds.
Its high time you all grew up stopped blaming apartheid for your failures and behaving like greedy envious and spoilt children when one of your packets of sweeties is fairly taken from your greedy palms .
Try instead to grow and follow the example of Hellen Zille , hard working , principled , focused and singularly capable of a lot more than most you could do , that is without your deliberate publicly stated intent of interference .
Yours faithfully ,
Sandy Buchanan .
Woodstock .
Contact # 083 254 9069
Great letter Sandy. You should consider a political career ... get organised before the next elections ... you already have my vote.
I was in SA when the elections took place (actually flew from Cape Town to Durban that very day and bumped into Patricia De Lille at Cape Town airport). All I will say is that I hope that the DA will continue on its path to success. Clearly there are people out there who have not been fooled by the ANC's promises.
There was an interesting letter to the editor posted in one of Dubai's newspapers yesterday that I found very interesting and thought I would share with you.
The number of babies, children, women and the elderly who must face the horrendous evil abusive crimes in their lives daily, definitely distances SA from the rest of the world. Justifying this as acceptable by saying that there is good and bad in every country, is unacceptable. Our country is totally out of order and lawless, not protecting its citizens' safety at all. Why is it that SA's continue to flog the 'redressing the effects of apartheid' until it's dead?
We are 15yrs ahead and the situation has degenerated to an irreparable situation. We don't need to justify our willingness to return home because simply we don't wish to. We are all not white, might I add, some of us are 'previously disadvantaged' and during the tough times, we put our heads down, learnt from the whites who were prepared to elevate us and here we are, making a difference in our own world, not expecting anything from anyone and definitely not throwing dirty laundry to justify our insecurities. Show me an individual who wishes the failure of their country?
Nobody, because our hearts are in our home countries however, if the situation does not afford our return, what other options do we have but look for better lives elsewhere instead of complaining? The negativity portrayed about our country has nothing to do with relishing in speaking ill about our country, wanting to see our country fail, continuing to hammer the whites about their past advantages when some of us of colour were afforded those same advantages at the time, only because of our positive attitude and will to succeed in the face of adversity.
Many whites were there with a helping hand, so leave affirmative action and black economic empowerment in their own boxes, where they belong, because I see limited professionalism and experience deriving from this and trust me, I am not white.[/i]
Thanks Patricia .. good and interesting reading .. and yes the cloour statement is sooo true ...
In this evenings papers ms Zille stated thats its a similar political campaign starting at the moment as when she took over the city ... SHAME ON YOU ANC ...
FOUND THIS ON THE DA WEBSITE .. INTERESTING READING WILL PASTE IN AND PUT AS ATTACHED DOCUMENT .. YOUR CHOICE OF WHATS EASIER AND QUICKER TO READ .. BELOW
May 5th, 2009 in Uncategorized by Solly Malatsi
THE ANC'S DIRTY ELECTIONEERING TACTICS
The ANC went out of its way to secure a two-thirds majority win in the 2009 general elections, despite two major challenges - the formation of COPE and loss of support to the DA in the Western Cape. This was a goal that was pursued aggressively in ways that sometimes overstepped the mark politically and legally.
It is perhaps here in the Western Cape that the ANC has resorted to the most despicable campaign tricks targeted at the DA. It peddled lies about the City of Cape Town's impeccable service delivery and good governance record; resorted to racist slurs targeted at Helen Zille and Joe Seremane, which I would not dignify by repeating here; and it pulled out the redundant 'DA will bring back apartheid' card in a bid to dissuade black voters from voting for the DA.
The irony of all this is that while the ANC and its allies spat fire about the City of Cape Town service delivery record they remained silent about the origin of the challenges which Zille and her team had to overcome. The City of Cape Town was, under the misleadership of Nomaindia Mfeketo, in the league of the worst governed municipalities in the country characterized by rampant corruption, cronyism and nepotism, and a mediocre service delivery record.
The former mayor, unsurprisingly, had the audacity to allege that the 'DA has never delivered services in shack areas' a fortnight prior to the elections. Perhaps it is high time Ms. Mfeketo tells us what she provided to informal settlements around Cape Town during all those years in office? The truth is that she did nothing. Another truth is that the City of Cape Town under the mayoralty of Zille has done more to provide quality basic services to all the people in three years than Mfeketo did throughout a full term.
These lies were unsurprising though. The City of Cape Town under the DA-led coalition has been a nightmare for the ANC from day one. The ANC in collaboration with the Western Cape Provincial Government tried in vain to destabilize the work of the coalition government culminating in the 'unlawful' appointment of the Erasmus Commission to investigate fabricated 'allegations of irregularities in the City of Cape Town'. A full bench of the High Court later dismissed the Commission as part of the ANC's broader strategy to 'embarrass' the City of Cape Town and the DA. The High Court simultaneously exonerated the DA of any of the alleged wrongdoing which compelled the ANC to find another strategy in its hopeless bid to paralyze the City of Cape Town and Zille.
The ruling party then embarked on a vicious smear campaign to discredit the country's beacon of good governance and quality service delivery record in local government. In March this year the ANC Youth League and its alliance partners (SASCO, YCL and COSAS) marched to the Mayor's Office to demonstrate against the City of Cape Town's 'ignorance of youth development around Cape Town.' The march attracted less than 100 demonstrators most of whom were school children. After realizing that the youth march was complete flop the tripartite alliance unleashed its big guns and organized a similar march to the Mayor's Office.
One of the silly demands in their memorandum was that Helen Zille must not 'move outside the borders of the City of Cape Town during working hours'. This ludicrous demand comes from the same individuals who have been silent while Ministers, MEC and senior public servants abandon their public service responsibilities to campaign for the ANC during working hours. The most notable example of this is the MEC of Housing in Gauteng Nomvula Mokonyane. She has been in Cape Town since November last year heading the task team in charge of the Western Cape operation after Luthuli House stripped the PEC of its powers. Similarly, scores of public servants have been deployed to campaign during office hours with full pay at the behest of NEHAWU.
The knives were also out to get Zille beyond the borders of the Western Cape during the campaign season. In February the ANC bussed in its juvenile thugs to prevent Zille from addressing a public meeting in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga. In vintage Zille style she forced her way through the thugs to address the DA meeting. Less than a week after Zille's visit the ANC was caught distributing a fake DA pamphlet with the old DA logo in the Steve Tshwete Municipality.
In mid-April ANC supporters unsuccessfully tried to disrupt a public meeting Zille was supposed to address in Viljoenshoek, Free State. She had to defy the sickening smell of upturned rubbish bins and heaps of human excrement that were thrown at the door of the hall in which the meeting was scheduled to take place. On Sunday 19 April ANC supporters in Middelburg, Mpumalanga set up a roadblock in the township in an attempt to prevent the DA Battle Bus from proceeding to the venue where she was supposed to address a public meeting. She eventually made her way to the venue after police dispersed the rowdy crowd.
Other parties have also been on the receiving end of the ANC's bullying tactics. In February the PAC in Limpopo alleged that police instructed its activists to remove PAC posters on lampposts in order to make way for Jacob Zuma's posters. This is despite the fact that the PAC had booked those spots first and supplied the police with the necessary documentation to show that they were entitled to place those posters. But instead of upholding the rule of law to protect the victim, in this case the PAC, the police acted in favour of the ANC.
Approximately two weeks prior to voting day a 'group of drunkards in ANC t-shirts' stoned cars belonging to a COPE entourage and barricaded the streets to prevent COPE's premier candidate for Limpopo from campaigning in Seshego, Julius Malema's township. This was in line with Malema's earlier threat to 'crush anything that looks like Lekota, Shilowa or COPE' if they ever set foot in his neighbourhood. No arrests have been made as yet.
Neither the ANC in Limpopo nor Luthuli House condemned the despicable conduct of their members. On April 1 the ID alleged that 'the ANC in Warrenton switched off the town's lights off half an hour before Patricia De Lille was due to address an election rally outside the Warrenvale Shopping Centre'. In both instances the ANC did not give any assurance that action would be taken against those responsible for instigating political intolerance.
To compound the situation, COSAS President Wesley Kgang told an ANC election rally in Vryburg, North-West on 15 April that '...we will remove all posters of any other party save the ANC because those posts (on which posters are hung) belong to the ANC.' The ANC issued a vague statement in response 'distancing' itself from Kgang's statement. Yet it has not given any indication that it will take disciplinary actions against him. Kgang's words, however, should not be dismissed as a publicity stunt by an immature youth leader given that they were said in front of senior ANC leaders in the North-West and none of them reprimanded him - which implies that he had their blessings.
Similarly, ANCYL President Julius Malema confessed in a recent interview that 'the youth league says what Zuma can't say and [what he] can't be heard saying' which reaffirms the perception that ANC uses its youth structures to do its dirty work. The reality is that Kgang's words were not just an empty threat. Many opposition parties have decried the mysterious disappearance of their posters in areas perceived to be ANC strongholds. Maybe their frustrations with lost posters explain the markings on ANC billboards and posters.
Another strategy that the ANC used effectively in this campaign, particularly to win votes in rural areas, was to mobilize traditional leaders to urge their subjects to vote for the ruling party. Some of these traditional leaders, however, took their mandate too far. One such example is Chief Thovhele Kennedy Tshivhase of the Tshivhase tribe in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, who ordered villagers to 'vote the ANC or face my wrath' - in front the Premier of Limpopo Cassel Mathale - who reportedly did nothing to censure him. A day after the incident SABC Radio News reported that some villagers went to the local police station to lay a charge of intimidation but were told they did not have a case.
The partiality of the SAPS throughout the campaign has not helped to quell the political intolerance perpetuated mostly by ANC supporters. The police are yet to arrest a single ANC supporter for intimidation or instigating political violence despite the numerous charges laid against them. Yet they have acted swiftly to arrest members of opposition parties, in some instances for obscure charges.
In Kwazulu-Natal IFP aligned students who prevented Julius Malema from addressing students at the university in early April were deservedly arrested within a week. DA Mpumalanga Youth Leader Stanley Zondi was arrested for apparently intimidating an ANC supporter 48 hours after a case was opened against him when in fact he helped to remove a drunken audience member from a public meeting addressed by DA MPL Clive Hatch. It is ironic that opposition supporters have been arrested for obscure charges whilst the real culprits, ANC members, are left unscathed. I'm not in anyway suggesting that opposition members should not face the wrath of the law for breaking the law I'm rather puzzled by the conspicuous inconsistency of the police in dealing with political violence.
The ANC's 2009 elections campaign was probably its most aggressive and extravagant campaign since the advent of democracy. South Africa would certainly be a better country if only the ANC was as committed to quality service delivery and fighting corruption as it was with its election campaign this year
Well my letter got into the Argus ... albeit edited .. they left lut the last choice paragraphs .. and of course if you read the DA article and the happenings .. they are with this very valid theory being presented are of course in self righteous denial syndrome ... TWOTS cat1.gif
Great letter in the Argus Sandy. You expressed what, I imagine, a great number of people thought.
Thanks Shiela .. saw it got into saturday argus virtually totally unedited ...
Hi SandyB, your letter also published in the Sunday Times - good on ya!
Yup seems I'm now on their regular contributor list ,,, so i must be making sense ... strange how they edit while keeping the gist .. each one did something different .. only saturday Argus put my full heartfelt opinion in ,,,
Mmm .. MIB ,,, unless anyone else has been getting the same type of message .. I suddenly got via the DA website ( which has been hacked numerous times by unknowns ? ) a very enticing email .. from a private banker .. secret accounts channeled etc ,, he in direct control of allocation etc .. a Buchanan deceased ,, huge amounts if the money is not allocated it will end up in Government hands .. deal split 50 / 50.. me not biting .. somebody trying to shaft me ?? catmusic
Way to go Uncle Sandy, Pleasantly suprised to open me Sunday Times and read your letter.... perseverance does indeed pay off..... are you thinking of heading into the mainstream politics yet?>
Thanks Mike , yes letter appeared in week argus edited , in virtual unedited state in saturday argus , and then edited in the sunday times ... politics ?/ no me just a stirrer .. if something pees me off I write ,, been doing it for years even in the old dark ages of PW etc only diffs is its so much easie with email etc nowadays .. keep an eye on my spaces I make ...